Heal Me
by Freak-With-Issues
Summary: When Sakura and her team come back from a mission to investigate Akatsuki they are all severly injured, Sakura the worst. She is physically and psychologically damaged and Sasuke cares for her to prove his loyalty, but where can innocent feelings lead? HIATUS for difficulty with pairing.
1. Six Ninjas

**A/N: **Yes I should be updating my other stories, but in my defense I wrote the begining of this story earlier so it didn't take the time of writing other stories. I just wanted to start posting it. Read and hopefully enjoy!

"Talking"

_Thinking_

_**Inner Sasuke (I decided for the sake of understanding Sasuke that he will have an inner, not Sakura)**_

Konoha Ninja team: Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Naruto, Neji, TenTen

Sasuke was walking through the busy streets of Konoha, studying the people that ran by him. None of them were like her; no one else had her ability to forgive.

Ever since his return, where he had came back triumphant since he had killed his brother, Sasuke had gotten a strange feeling in his chest whenever he saw her. Over the past couple years he was away he had constantly thought about her, about how she had treated him. About how she offered to give up everything for him. Everytime she came up, he got this weird warm and tingly feeling in his chest, and it had greatly confused him. Three months after returning, in utter defeat, Sasuke had asked Ino about it.

Flashback

"_Ino?" He called nervously, stepping into the flower shopped Ino's family owned where she was standing behind the counter reading one of those dumb gossip magazines. She glanced up at him and waved him over, smiling as she did so._

"_What's wrong, you never talk to me unless you have to." She asked, shifting so she was facing him. He felt slightly guilty about what she said, it was true, but he shook it off. He wasn't here to apologize for ignoring her._

"_I…want to ask you about this feeling in my chest I get sometimes." He said quietly, half-hoping she wouldn't hear so he could tell her it was nothing and leave._

"_Is it a burning feeling? Because if it is it has nothing to do with my cooking at your welcome home party!" Ino shouted, slamming her fist down on the counter._

_Sasuke shook his head, looking down at his hands which were folded in front of him. "N-no. It's more like….warmth…right here." He said, subconsciously placing his hand over his heart._

_Ino took a deep breath and asked a dangerous question. "Sasuke, when you said sometimes. Do you notice any kind of pattern?" She watched his actions, carefully studying him._

"_Whenever she's around." Sasuke mumbled. "She makes it happen and I want to know what's wrong with me." He answered, head bowed. Ino laughed and Sasuke jerked his head up, looking at her with a shocked expression. "Ino?" _

_"Sasuke, nothing's wrong with you! You just have feelings for her." After she said that Sasuke had stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Ino was just being ridiculous, he didn't have feelings for Sakura!_

End Flashback

He turned his face upwards, looking up at the sky. About a month later, he had begun to consider what Ino had said. Maybe….it wasn't so insane. Maybe-

His thoughts were cut off when Lee came running up to him, jerking him from his thoughts when the bushy browed boy screamed his name. He looked extremely panicked and Sasuke turned to him, confused on what was so urgent that had Lee looking out of breath, which was a rare occurrence. He took several deep breaths, hunched over with his hands on his knees after all the running. "Several Konoha ninjas have been brought back to the village in critical states. They are being taken to the hospital currently." Sasuke stared at him curiously. Sure he had still had some friends in Konoha and anything having to do with the village was of some interest to him, but he didn't understand why Lee had rushed to tell him about this certain event.

"I don't see the urgency of the matter." He stated, his onyx eyes still resting on him.

"The ninjas included Hinata, Kiba, Sakura…." He never got to finish his sentence because right after he mentioned Sakura, Sasuke was gone, swallowed in puff of smoke. _What the heck was that? _Lee wondered, taking off running towards the hospital.

Sasuke appeared in the hospital lobby and in two long strides was leaning on the reception desk. "Where are the Konoha ninjas being treated?" He demanded, glaring at the poor receptionist.

"I'm sorry sir, but two of the six ninjas are in surgery and the other four are in being examined. None of them are able to see visitors at the moment." Sasuke slammed his fist down on the desk, causing it to shake and all eyes to turn to him.

"I want to know each of their conditions! I need to know how they're doing! I'm a close friend so I have the right to know!" He exclaimed in hopes he would get the information faster, about to slam his fist down again when a hand grabbed his arm and stopped it. He turned to glare at the person only to meet Ino's furious gaze. Sasuke jerked his arm out of her grasp and grumbled something, walking over to the part of the waiting room with the least people and sitting down. Ino apologized to the receptionist, asking for the soonest update on the wounded ninjas before taking a seat beside Sasuke.

"What the hell was that?" She hissed, keeping a calm smile on her face. Sasuke glanced at her and then down at his feet, realizing he had come dangerously close to losing his temper.

"Nothing. Am I not allowed to be concerned for the safety of my friends?" He whispered back, glaring at her. His manly pride was stopping his from apologizing and admitting he had nearly seriously screwed up. Ino glared at him, but he refused to look at her, keeping his gaze trained on the wall across from him. "Let's just wait until we find out what's going on." _Damn it! When did I get so stupid! I freaked out over nothing! That was so fucking stupid! __**Don't have to tell me that. I don't know why you're so worried boy, that girl survived training under Tsunade, she can survive anything. **__That doesn't mean anything, Tsunade never tried to kill her. __**Yeah, but she accidentally came close a couple times. And wait, when did I ever say I was talking about Sakura? **_He argued with himself, trying to figure out what had happened to make him so upset. After minutes of thinking, he found nothing.

After hours of waiting, a nurse finally walked into the lobby and greeted Sasuke and Ino. "Sir, I have the report on the Konoha ninjas. Five of them are in stable condition and are expected to be able to return to their homes within the next two weeks." She said with a smile, but her expression seemed fake to Sasuke.

"Weren't there six ninjas?"


	2. Losing Independance

The nurse's smile dropped at the mention of the last ninja. "There were. The doctors are still performing surgery to try and stabalize the sixth ninja's condition." Sasuke was silent for a moment. He was about to ask the identity of the sixth ninja when the nurse spoke again. "You may go see the other five ninjas though, as long as you are quiet so you don't wake them."

He nodded, getting to his feet, Ino jumping up in sync with him, worry showing on her face as they walked down several corridors. They arrived in the critical care facility and walked past several doors before the nurse stopped at room 512. "This room and the four after this are holding the Konoha ninjas. Please page for assistance with the button beside the patient's bed if you need anything." Ino was the first to enter the room, noticing an extremely pale Hinata lying on the bed. Her right arm was broken and several deep scratches were on her arms, legs, and probably her torso too.

"She doesn't look too bad." Ino whispered hopefully, brushing Hinata's bangs out of her face. The girl shifted slightly in her sleep before settling back down in the bed. Sasuke couldn't understand why, but he was itching to move on. He felt bad, he knew he should at least check up on his friend Hinata, but for some reason he wasn't very concerned about her. Ino seemed to notice because she stood up and they moved onto the next room. As they entered Sasuke almost growled in frustration. Sitting on the bed with a furious expression was Naruto, yelling at the poor nurse beside his bed.

"I wanna know why the hell I'm in the hospital! I was on a mission! Where is everyone! You better answer me!" He was waving his fist at the terrified old woman and Ino laughed.

"Trying to make our medical ninja number even smaller?" She asked, walking up to the blond.

"Ino? Wait? This doesn't make any sense. What's going on?" Naruto looked severely confused and while Ino explained how they had been found injured in the forest, Sasuke took the time to examine the Dobe's injuries. He had broken his left leg and arm with bruises all over. He also had several cuts, though not as deep as Hinata's.

After receiving all the info Ino knew Naruto's face got an understanding look. "Oh yeah. I think I remember know. We were sent out on a mission to investigate a bunch of murders around the Konoha are-'' Sasuke put up his hand for Naruto to stop.

"You shouldn't strain yourself with remembering. We will bring you and your team from the mission together and figure out what happened. For now, leave the nurses alone and get some rest. I am going to go visit the others." Sasuke felt a knot in his stomach. _There are still three other rooms she could be in, stop freaking out. Wait? Why am I so concerned! She means nothing more than a friend to me!_ He told himself, shaking his head and walking out of the room. **Whatever you say...** His inner self murmured with a smirk. Ino waved goodbye to Naruto and they moved on to the next room.

Sasuke felt the knot tighten when he saw Kiba peacefully sleeping in the bed before them, Akumura wrapped in his arms. The boy had bruises and cuts all over his body, but other than that he looked fine.

Sasuke closed the door quickly, mumbling something about not being able to do anything for him if he was asleep. The next room held TenTen, who was sitting up in bed looking over her injuries which included two broken arms and a bandaged head, a frustrated expression on her face. Ino entered the room, but Sasuke kept walking to the next one, not caring if he looked rude. The knot in his stomach was growing and when he opened the last door to see Neji, his arm in a sling and his foot looking extremely swollen, staring out the window he lost it. "Damn it!"  
>He slammed his fist into the wall, causing the Hyuga to look at him with a startled expression. "Uchiha?" Sasuke ignored the boy and stomped over to the button beside Neji's bed, pressing it over and over again. Finally, after what seemed like forever of Neji asking him what was wrong and waiting, a young male doctor appeared.<br>"Is there a problem here Sir?" He asked, a worried expression on his face.

"How is the sixth ninja's condition? How is Sakura? Is she still in surgery?" He shot out question after question, worry putting his mind into overdrive.

"Sir, please calm down. Take a seat and I will inform you on her current condition." Sasuke immediately dropped down into one of the hospital chair like an obedient puppy, looking up at the doctor with expectant eyes. "Miss Haruno was severely injured in her fight. Both her legs are broken, her left wrist is fractured, she has cuts and bruises covering her body, suffered a blow to the back of the head, and has two broken ribs that managed to puncture her lungs. We have set the ribs and cleaned up her lungs, but she lost a lot of blood."

Sasuke went several shades paler than usual. What had happened to Sakura to damage her body so severely? "Someone also managed to use chakra to upset her nervous system, mainly focusing on her legs, so it will be difficult for her to walk again even after her broken legs heal. I believe the damage can be reversed, but it will take time. Finally, and most importantly, she was poisoned. We seem to have removed the poison for now and she is out of immediate danger, but we haven't seen this kind before. It seems to be branched off of a type of poison that works on the mind, bringing up memories that a person pushes into the furthest part of their mind in an attempt to destroy them emotionally and mentally." The doctor looked at him sympathetically and Sasuke dropped his head into his hands, not caring if anyone saw him so weak. All that mattered was that Sakura was hurt. Sakura was…..badly hurt.

"When will she be able to have visitors?" He managed to say, his voice surprisingly calm.

"Since we fixed the main issue, the lungs, and the damaged bones won't take too long to set, I would say probably within the next 48 hours. We will also be able to wrap her cuts and head in that time." The doctor noticed how desperate Sasuke looked and quickly added, "But she will probably be awake sooner, I have heard she is a very strong kunoichi." With that the doctor walked out, leaving behind a shocked Neji and a horrified Sasuke.

It had been 27 hours since Sasuke and Ino had arrived at the hospital. Everyone, except for Sakura, had woken up and talked to them. From the information Sasuke had gathered from everyone, the group had been sent out to investigate murders around where Akatsuki had recently been spotted, suspecting they had something to do with the murders. They were ambushed and split up, promising to meet back by the border that lend into Hidden in the Leaf territory. They had, but were once again ambushed. They had all been separated and fought for their lives against Akatsuki members. Though Sasuke had figured out who everyone else fought, no one seemed to know who Sakura had been up against. He was currently sitting in Naruto's room. Ino was over saying hello to Hinata who had just recently woken up, being the last to wake.

"So you don't have any idea who did that to Sakura?" Sasuke asked, frustrated with the lack of information on what had happened to Sakura. He also was frustrated because he couldn't figure out why the hell he cared so much. He didn't want t believe Ino's presumption, but it was looking clearer and clearer by the moment.

Naruto shook his head sadly before adding, and "Didn't know you cared so much, Teme," with a broad grin. Sasuke was about to yell at him when a doctor entered the room.

"Sir, I was asked to inform you that Sakura Haruno is awake in room 517. You may go, but-'' Sasuke was already gone. Running down the hallway and bursting into the room. Before him was a sight that made his heart drop. Sakura was lying on the hospital bed, her skin color matching the white sheets' with the exception of several black and blue spots on her skin where bruises ruined her flawless skin. Both legs were in casts along with her right wrist. A large bandage was wrapped around her head, the back right part of it stained red. There were also various bandages covering her arms and legs. He couldn't see her torso, but he guessed that too was covered in bandages that were stained red.

"Sakura?" He called softly, his voice shaking slightly.

Sakura's POV

I opened my eyes when someone called my name to see a blinding amount of white surrounding me, causing me to blink several times before my eyes adjusted. That was when I became award of the amount of pain I was feeling and groaned, clenching my teeth together. The same person repeated my voice with more concern in their voice and with a great deal of effort I managed to turn my head so I was looking at them. _Sasuke? What is he doing here? Where is here? Why do I hurt so much? _  
>"Sasuke? What's going on?" I choked, watching him as he moved over to my bedside and pulled a chair forward so it was right next to my bed before sitting down in it. He looked at me with a stoic expression, but his eyes were sad and sympathetic, making me even more confused.<p>

"You're in the Konoha hospital Sakura. You were sent on a mission to investigate murders near where Akatsuki had been spotted. You were attacked, kept moving, were attacked again, and your team had to split up. Do you remember anything?" I tried to remember things, struggling to think through the headache that seemed to fog up my thoughts. I remembered the mission, I remembered the first attack, I even remembered continuing traveling after that, but I couldn't seem to remember after that. It was rather hazy.

That was when suddenly I was jerked from the hospital room into a memory. I was standing in front of someone and they were hitting me and hitting me. They just wouldn't stop. I told them they needed to spot killing innocent people between pained gasps. That was when the person brought back their foot and kicked me with all their strength in the ribs. I stifled a scream and then I got this strange feeling I was drowning. I couldn't breathe for some reason and it was scaring me. Suddenly the figure leaned down and brushed my lips with its thumb. Then, I was falling, falling out of the tree towards the ground.

I flew up into a sitting position in the hospital bed, letting out a terrified scream. I wrapped my arms around myself, ignoring the pain in my legs and wrist. I felt arms awkwardly wrap around my body and leaned into them, my eyes wide as I thought of the freshly recovered memory. I didn't want to remember now. Not if what happened was anything like that.

That was when I realized who was holding me. I looked up to see onyx eyes looking into my own bright emerald ones. Forgetting that Sasuke probably still had some personal space issues, I snuggled into his chest, my breath still coming in short gasps. After a minute my breathing went back to normal and the pain resumed torturing me. I looked back up at Sasuke and he seemed to understand because he let me go so I could lie down, keeping a hand under my back as I did so to steady me. I closed my eyes when I did so, sighing.

"Sasuke?"  
>"Hn?" He replied, sounding and acting the most like him I'd seen him since I'd woken up.<p>

"I'm scared."

"I know."

Sasuke POV

I was waiting on a bench outside Sakura's room, Ino by my side. Lee had been here earlier, but his enthusiastic shouts had upset Sakura so I had to kick him out. A doctor had come in to check on her, asking me to leave so he could evaluate all her injuries. I had respected her privacy and left, but now I was anxiously waiting for the doctor to return with her results. I could tell Ino was watching me, but I didn't care. She wasn't my focus right now. _What happened to Sakura? Who would have attacked her and been so…..vicious. She was so badly wounded…._ **You ought to beat the shit out of whoever did this_._** _Since when do you about anyone other than us?_ **Since that damned girl explained what we are feeling towards her**. _Ino is wrong._ **You're one stubborn kid aren't you? Anyways, if you need my help with her, just call.** _Wait! What the heck is this abo-?_

Ino cut into my thoughts when she asked, "Were you talking about Sakura when you asked about that warmth in your chest?" I was stunned for a moment, but decided not to go through the trouble of lying to Ino. I nodded, waiting for her to shout out something like I told you so, but she simply nodded in response, somehow seeming to understand I wasn't up for arguing at the moment.

The doctor eventually came out, glancing down at his clipboard every few seconds. "Well, it seems Miss Haruno is very lucky to be alive." I didn't want to hear that, but I knew it was true. With all the damage to her body, it was a wonder she hadn't died of blood loss. "She will need to stay here for a couple more days, but after that I see no reason to keep her here." I had mixed feelings about that. I wanted Sakura better, but I didn't want things to go back to normal. Ever since I had returned she had treated me like a complete stranger. "Here's the complicated part." The doctor said with a sigh. "She cannot go back to living alone yet with her injuries. Her friends can leave in a week's time, but she can't do things for herself with broken legs, I worry that her head injury could cause dizziness, we don't know the full effects of the poison, and I don't want her messing up the stitches in her lungs. I couldn't use any healing jutsus for fear the pressure needed to be applied to use one would fully collapse the lung." It took me a moment to realize that meant Sakura would be staying in with someone. I felt my heart rate jump.

"Do you know anyone she could stay with after being discharged from the hospital?" I would have offered to let her stay with me, but worried that would seem kind of weird. _Wait, I would have? What was I thinking!_ **Course you would have! I don't have any objections!** I wanted to punch myself, bring myself back to my senses, but I resisted the urge with a doctor right beside me. I wasn't up for a trip to the psychiatric wing today.

When Ino spoke I was slightly surprised, but I became extremely surprised when I heard what she had to say. "I am a very close friend of Sakura's and would love to house her, but I am to leave on a mission in several days so I can't, though I'm sure Sasuke here could care for her. I also believe Tsunade would agree to this as a chance for Sasuke to continue to prove his loyalty to Konoha." I stared at her, my face remaining expressionless, but my eyes were a completely different story. They seemed to scream at her, asking her what she was doing.

The doctor watched me skeptically at first before nodding. "Alright. As long as Miss Haruno agrees with this situation and the Hokage approves, she will be in your care young man. I'm going to need you to sign some release forms, so if you would please come with me." I stood up and followed the doctor back to the lobby where the receptionist watched me fearfully. Under the doctors instructions she showed me how to fill out the form and I settled into one of the waiting room chairs to fill it out. _Why didn't I notice how uncomfortable these chairs are before? Then again, other than Sakura I wasn't thinking about much earlier. Wait…..WHAT THE HELL!_ **Told you….** My inner my laughed before disappearing back into the depths of my mind.

Ino's POV

I walked into Sakura's room and cringed at she saw how bad Sakura really looked. I walked up to my fragile friend and brushed some of her hair from her face, trying to be as gentle as possible so not to wake her. Despite my efforts Sakura stirred and blinked her eyes open. "Ino?" She croaked, making me want to throw her arms around the poor girl, but my self control stopped me.

"I'm here. I gotta tell you something and you're not gonna like it, 'kay?" I asked quietly, waiting until I received a nod from Sakura to continue. "You're too badly beat to try and live on your own when you're out of here. Everyone else is gonna head home at the end of the week if not earlier, but the doctor doesn't want you going. He's worried about your stitches on your lung, your head injury, the fact that you were poisoned, and it's kinda hard to move around with two broken legs." I watched Sakura's reaction carefully, trying to figure out what she was thinking at the moment. First she brought her left hand up to touch the bandage on her head, then the same hand moved to touch her chest on the left side where the broken ribs and punctured lung were, and finally she brought her hand down to touch the casts on her legs.

"What am I gonna do?" She asked, sadness edging into her voice. I knew how much Sakura hated to feel helpless, so it hurt me to see her like this.

"You've been required to stay with someone until you're healed enough to care for yourself. And no, that doesn't mean as soon as you can stand. That means being able to complete day to day tasks and not putting your health in danger." I added the last part quickly, seeing Sakura's devious expression. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go on an herb gathering mission as in a couple days so you can't stay with me." Sakura looked up at me with a confused expression, obviously wondering where she was going to stay.

I rubbed my temples, trying to find a way to put that she was to stay with Sasuke, a guy, someone she had had her heart broken by, and someone who she was going to have to spend all hours of the day with. "Well, I did manage to find somewhere for you to stay. With Sasuke."

She looked at me with this hurt expression and told me, "Don't even joke about that, he would never agree to it." I filed away in my mental folder of info on Sakura how upset she had seemed when she thought I was joking about that.

"No joke, he's signing your release papers now. You just have to agree and you'll be staying with him." Sakura groaned and mimicked my earlier action, rubbing her temples, but she added her own twist by sighing.

"I just woke up with a bunch of serious injuries, Sasuke hugs me, I'm told I can't do anything by myself, and now I'm going to live with Sasuke? This is all too much." My jaw must've hit the floor because Sakura asked, "You okay?"  
>"He….h-he….he hugged you?" I asked, wondering if this was some weird pay-back for what she thought was a joke about staying with Sasuke.<p>

She shrugged- as much as you can when you're lying down with critical injuries- and replied, "Yeah, I had a really freaky flashback and screamed. He hugged me and it calmed me down. What's so weird about that? You told me over the last couple months he has been better with people and human contact." Sakura had a point, I had said that, but the closest to real contact I got was being able to put a hand on his shoulder without a flinch. A hug? Unthinkable when it came to Sasuke. Maybe he really does care about her. Weird since they haven't seen each other in so long and even when he came back Sakura treated him indifferently….

I stood up, a smile tugging at my lips as I did so. "I'm gonna go home. I've been here for the past day and I really need a shower. I'm gonna take Sasuke too. We should be back tomorrow if not the day after. I need to make him clean out some room in his house for you. Knowing him he'll try and set you up in a completely different house on the opposite side of the Uchiha compound."

Sakura looked at me like I was crazy before asking, "Is he back in the Uchiha compound?" I guess I forgot to mention that whenever we talked about Sasuke since she refused to speak to him directly …oops.

"Yeah, Tsunade thought that was a good idea." I waved to Sakura and walked out, hurrying before she could ask any more questions.

Sasuke POV

It had been two days since I'd seen Sakura. During the first day I had talked to Tsunade about it and she had basically said the same thing as Ino. One the second day Ino had been pestering me about cleaning out my house so it would, in her words, "Be livable for someone other than you, because most people like sunlight and being able to walk without continuously tripping over crap." I had spent all yesterday cleaning that damn place. It wasn't very big. It did have three bedrooms, but everything was tightly packed together. The only thing that concerned me was the fact that the master bedroom, where I slept, was on the opposite side of the second floor from the guest bedrooms, one of which Sakura was going to be staying. I was worried that if she needed me, I wouldn't be able to hear her, and she couldn't exactly come get me.

As we reached her room I knocked on the door, waited a moment, and then opened the door and walked in, Ino standing behind me. Ino immediately jumped into conversation with Sakura and I settled into one of the chairs beside her bed. "They finally let you change out of that dingy gown and into your regular clothes!" The blonde commented, gesturing to Sakura's red v-neck t-shirt that read in black lettering 'If you can read this, you're too close' and grey sweatpants. After a giggle from Sakura and Ino continued the conversation. "So, you got your final examination today. How did it go?" I made sure to listen carefully. Ino wasn't the only one worried about Sakura.

"I'm all good. I just can't do anything strenuous and Sasuke has to be with me at all times. They are kinda worried about my nightmares, but I should be fine. I just have to be careful since they don't know the full extent of the poison. Also, I have to make sure not to rip out my stitches because internal bleeding is bad apparently." Sakura laughed and Ino joined her. I didn't like how she said should be fine. _It's got to be bad if Sakura isn't confident everything will be alright. She always believes that, even if the rest of world has accepted that it isn't going to be._ **She's pretty fucked up, kinda hard to be positive. **_As soon as we find out who did this, that person it so dead._ **Agreed.**

I nodded and got up, moving around the bed to bring over the wheelchair Sakura was going to be using from now on. She looked a little sad when she saw it, but quickly covered it up with a smile. I moved over to her bedside with the chair, moving it as close to the bed as I could before I stopped it. I then leaned towards, slipping one arm under her upper back and the other under her knees and lifting her up. She was extremely light and I gentle set her in the wheelchair, grabbing onto the handles on the back of the wheelchair and wheeled her out of the room and into the hallway. I then turned her into the closest room which happened to be Neji's. I had promised to take her to see all of her friends since today since she probably wouldn't get to see them often in her condition, since they would be in physical therapy to help their wounds and she would be bed-ridden most of the time.

Neji looked up when the door opened and a sad expression flashed across his face at the sight of Sakura. I had to admit, she still looked horrible. Bruises and cuts still covered he body, added onto the casts on her legs and right wrist, the bandage around her head, and her unusually pale and skinny body didn't exactly make her the most cheerful sight.

"Hello Neji." She greeted him, giving a wave with her right hand, her dominant hand before she winced and stopped seeming to just now remember it was hurt.

He gave her a small smile, a huge effort from the emotionless Hyuga, and waved back with his none injured hand. "Hello Sakura, you're looking better." We all knew that was a lie, but at least he tried.

She gave him a polite nod and stated, "I just wanted to say goodbye before you left the hospital to return to everyday life, I wish you good luck on your rehabilitation." She then reached back and patted my hand, signaling she was ready to leave. I nodded to Neji before wheeling her out and into the next room.

I saw TenTen sitting on the bed looking extremely frustrated. I heard a voice from behind me that made me jump. That was when I remembered Ino was following Sakura and I. "TenTen, calm down. When you get better you can practice with your weapons all you want, but while you are under Konoha medical care you are not to do anything dangerous to your health. You know how much trouble the staff would be in?" TenTen scowled at Ino for a moment before her gaze turned to Sakura and immediately softened.

"How ya feeling Sakura?" She asked, motioning to her.

Sakura shrugged and forced a smile. I could tell it was fake because it never reached her eyes. "Alright I guess. I'll be even better when I get back to training." TenTen laughed at that and Sakura gave her the same goodbye and good luck before we moved into the next room.

After wheeling Sakura in I saw a small fur ball running towards Sakura, aiming to jump towards her chest. By protective instinct, I jumped in front of her. I heard the click of nails on the tile stop and Akamura skidded to a halt at my feet.

Kiba looked confused but then saw Sakura's current state and began spewing apologies for almost letting Akamura jump on her. She laughed it off, telling him it was fine. I then noticed she looked up at me with a thankful gaze before looking back at Kiba. "I wanted to tell you goodbye before you left." Kiba nodded and once again I felt a pat on my hand, telling me to keep moving.

We could already hear Naruto grumbling at the hospitals lack of ramen on their menu when we reached his doorway and I thought I heard Sakura giggle.

As soon as we entered the room Naruto stopped grumbling and yelled, "SAKURA! How are you? Are you heading out? Man, I wish you could resume work with everyone! Don't let Sasuke try and pull anything on you! I'll kill that Teme if he does!" He had been the only one we had revealed the full truth of Sakura's situation here and he took it better than I thought he would.

"Dobe, I'm right here." I said, rolling my eyes at the ridiculous blonde. Sometimes he really drove me crazy, but I knew he just wanted whatever was best for Sakura. He didn't show it, but he was just as worried as I was.

Sakura smiled at him and motioned for me to roll her right up next to his bed. She reached out and placed one of her slender hands on his cheek and I felt a pang of jealousy. _Now is not the time to be concerned about your feelings! Right now Sakura's safety is top priority!_ **Jealous much?** I mentally growled to myself before turning my attention back to the real world. "Naruto, I want you to work extra hard at getting better for me, okay?" He nodded solemnly, putting his hand over hers. "Be careful." She told him before removing her hand and tapping mine.

We finally made it into the last room where Hinata was sitting up; looking far less pale than the first day I had seen her. "Sakura…" Hinata murmured, taking in the sight of her injured friend. Tears formed in the girl's eyes and I moved Sakura next to the bed. Sakura took the girl's hands in her own and looked her in the eye.

"I'll be fine Hinata. Please, don't waste your time worrying about me. Sasuke will take good care of me." Hinata's face turned upwards to look into my eyes. Isn't it weird that she seems to trust me completely, but before this she would barely acknowledge my presence?

"Sasuke, will you please look after our Sakura for us? She is deeply cared about and we want her in good condition. That means physically, mentally, and emotionally." Hinata's voice was stern, but tears were streaming down her face.

I already knew everything Hinata told me, but I nodded to her, saying a simple, "I will." Sakura then said her goodbye to Hinata before we finally made our way out of the hospital, Ino babbling about how she and Sakura should go shopping when she got back better on the whole way to my house. When we arrived Ino waved goodbye and headed off in the direction of the house she and Shikamaru shared. Apparently the two had hooked up in my absence and had been together without any break ups for since then. I wheeled Sakura into the entryway and then kicked off my shoes.

"What would you like to do?" I asked, unsure of what she really could do. She seemed to think it over for a moment before replying.

"I would appreciate it if you took me out to the back porch." She kept her gaze fixed on her lap and I pushed her to the right, through the attached living/dining room and kitchen, and out onto the back porch through a sliding glass door on the other side of the kitchen. After I got her out on the patio on a spot where the sun would hit her, I stepped away from the wheelchair.

"I'm going to go make some dinner." She nodded and I went back inside, taking out the dish that I had gotten from Tsunade as a gift to Sakura. I put it in the oven and set the timer. I then turned and watched Sakura as dinner cooked, noticing how she wasn't moving at all. Becoming slightly concerned I made my way out onto the patio.

"Sakura?" I called, and when she didn't answer I continued walking closer. "Sakura?" I asked again and this time she turned to face me. Tears ran down her beautiful and bruised face, dropping off her chin and landing on her folded hands.

"They all felt pity for me. I don't want pity; I want to be able to do something about what happened." She whispered, her voice shaking. Though I was never good with crying girls, I knew I had to do something. **Comfort her!** My inner self commanded, and for some reason I listened. I walked over and knelt on the side of her wheelchair. I was just going to try and talk her into a happier state when she lunged forward, wrapping me up in a hug. She placed her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms around my neck. Sobs filled the silence as Sakura shook in my arms, her tears soaking the sleeve of my shirt. I stroked her hair carefully and murmured comforting words over and over again, feeling just as helpless as she.


	3. Memories Cannot Be Lost

**A/N:** Enjoy!

**EDIT!: **An anonymous reviewer brought to my attention that I stupidly forgot to put the warning about mentions of rape. The sections with rape now have stars surrounding them.

Sakura POV

After Sasuke wrapped his arms around me I felt better, like maybe I wasn't alone and someone wanted to help me. Don't get me wrong, I knew Naruto and everyone else wanted to help me, but they couldn't be there for me then, and Sasuke could.  
>We both jumped at the sound of the oven timer and Sasuke slowly released me, studying me slowly as he got to his feet and went back into the house. He returned a couple minutes later with two plates of food. We ate in a comfortable silence, quietly appreciating each other's company.<br>When I looked back at the clock inside on the microwave it told me it was already nine o'clock. I usually turned in much later than this, but after such hard days recently, I found myself far more tired.

"Sasuke?"  
>"Hn?"<br>"Can you take me to my room?" I asked, looking up to meet his gaze.

"Hn." He replied, pushing me back into the house and to the staircase which was across from the entryway. Suddenly, pair of strong arms were picking me up and I squeaked, leaning into the arms that held me. "My guest rooms are upstairs, so I'm going to have to carry you up to bed at night." He stated, making it sound like the most normal thing ever.

As we reached the top of the stairs and turned right, a sudden thought struck me. "I don't have any clothes to change into." I had kept a spare outfit in my bag during the mission, the one I was wearing, but my outfit from the mission was destroyed so that was my only outfit. Until Ino dropped off some things, I was stuck.

He seemed to think it over, me still held up in his arms before he turned around and headed towards what I presumed was his room. As we arrived he gently set me down on his bed in a sitting position before turning around and rooting through his drawers. He then produced a baggy black t-shirt that had the Uchiha fan symbol on the back. He then handed me a pair of black and red checked boxers and I stared at them for a moment before looking up at him, my expression demanding an explanation.

"My pants will be way too big, and since those have an elastic waist band they are most likely to stay on. You are considerably smaller than me." His logic made sense, but that didn't stop a small blush from creeping onto my cheeks. He then picked me up again, walking back towards the guest room where he set me on the side of a bed that a full length mirror was beside. "I'll be in the hall. Call me if you need something." He stepped out into the hall and I pulled my t-shirt off over my head and pulled his on, thankful it was a scoop neck so even though the shirt was huge the collar only dropped down to a coupled inches below the base of neck and a couple inches above my breasts.

After that I began working on my pants, managing to pull them of little by little. After that I pulled his boxers on over my underwear and called him. "I'm sorry, can you help me get under the covers." I blushed as I said that, feeling embarrassed that I couldn't do anything for myself.

He simply nodded and asked, "I'm going to use one hand to support you and the other to pull back the covers. Can you slightly support yourself on your legs?" I nodded and he slipped an arm around my waist, lifting me up and pulling me to his chest. I placed my legs down on the carpeted floor, my casts sinking into the soft ground. He used his other arm to pull back the bed cover and sheets. Then, with his arm wrapped around my waist and my body pressed into his chest, I noticed just how muscled he was. He wasn't covered in lumpy muscles, but he wasn't a twig either. He was thin, but well built with muscles in all the right places.

"Sakura?" He asked, pulling me out of my daze. I blushed and nodded my head, telling him he could set me down. He gently set me on the bed, picking my legs up and placing them in the bed before he pulled the covers up to my chin.

"Night." I called, watching him turn off the lights and walked out of my room, closing the door behind him. I don't think I was supposed to hear for some reason, but I heard him whisper goodnight as he walked away down the hall.

Sakura POV ************

I don't know where I was going, but I was sprinting as fast as I could through the forest, away from something that for some reason terrified me to no end. Then suddenly, I saw what terrified me so much on a branch opposite me, standing in the shadows of the tree branches above it. Before me loomed a figure who was watching me, the only feature of its face visible to me being its wicked grin. That was when the figure stepped closer to me, letting a little more light hit it. It was a man, but that was about all I could figure out before he had pinned me against the tree, smirking and studying me closely. He paused for a moment before moving closer, his lips aimed towards mine. "You'll do," was all he said before his lips were slammed against mine. I screamed, over and over again my horrified screams echoing through the forest.

That was when I felt hands brushing all over me, sweeping across the suddenly exposed skin of my thighs which caused me to look down, noticing my clothing had been reduced to my mesh undershirt and underwear. The rest of my clothing was slowly floating away from me to the forest floor. I continued to scream, trying to pump chakra into my fists as I shoved at my attacker only to find I didn't have enough to do so. I began to pathetically lash out with weak punches and kicks, earning a snicker from my attacker.

His tongue, which was currently attached to my neck sucking on it, began to slide over my skin south and my struggles intensified. _This isn't happening! This isn't happening! _My mind continued to scream as rough hands restrained my wrist and a skilled tongue continued to glide lower towards my shaking chest.

Sasuke POV

An ear-splitting scream filled the house, jerking me from my sleep. Another scream rang out, and that was when I realized that the screams were coming from the direction of Sakura's room, causing me to scramble to my feet and fling open my door. I sprinted down the short hallway and threw open her door, not even bothering to knock. Before me Sakura was curled up in a ball in the center of her bed on her side, her eyes screwed shut and her mouth wide open, letting out terrifying screams. She was obviously having some sort of nightmare so I quickly moved to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder and shaking her harshly.

Her eyes shot open and upon seeing me she let out another scream, jumping back, as best as she could with two broken legs, and wrapping her arms around herself with tears streaming down her face. _She's only been here a couple hours and this is the second time she's cried, I don't know if I can do this!_ **_Shut up and help her!_**  
>I watched her for a moment as her screams died down into sobs, her gaze resting on my eyes. I slowly climbed up onto the bed, kneeling in front of her. She watched me closely, never taking her eyes off mine, as I reached out and wrapped my arms around her. I carefully pulled her towards me, setting her down in my lap with my arms around her and my chin resting atop her head.<p>

Slowly, as the minutes passed, the sobs subsided into sniffling and finally stopped altogether. Even after she fell quiet, I waited a couple minutes before removing my head from atop hers to glance down at her face. Her reddened eyes were closed and a peaceful look graced her face. I realized she was asleep and couldn't hold back a smile. _She's really something…..I mean….I don't mean that. I can't mean that. But when she sleeps she does look…appealing. **Appealing my ass, she looks hot! **_I ignored my inner voice and thought over my words choice. I had made a good choice, using a word that didn't show any specific attraction to her. I returned my head to its original spot, on top of hers, before closing my eyes with a content sigh to meditate.

* * *

><p>Morning came too quickly for me. I felt something stir in my lap and blinked open my eyes, recalling the night before's events. I noticed Sakura looked like she was waking up and I felt a pang of sadness. <em>It's not like I like this. <em>I told myself. _I just feel bad for her because of her nightmare…yes. That's it. _Sakura reached up to rub her eyes with her hands, but I stopped her right hand so she wouldn't hurt her wrist. She seemed surprised and looked up at me with a cute, confused expression. _Cute? Where the hell did that come from? **From the girl on your lap! Don't lie and say she isn't! **_"You had a nightmare last night. I don't want to force you to talk about it, but can you remember anything about it?" The doctor had told me she had always refused tell anyone the contents of her nightmares, and he wanted me to try and find out anything I could since that might help her mental and emotional recovery, since he guessed some sort of damage because of the poison and possibly other things had been done.

"I was running." She stated, averting her gaze from my eyes. "He was chasing me and then he pinned me to a tree…." She trailed off, getting this glazed over and distant look in her eyes.

"Then what happened?" She looked up at me, as if wondering why I was there, before shaking her head. She then made an effort to sit up and get out of my lap, but let out a gasp and put a hand on her chest, falling back into my lap again.

"Sakura?" I asked, my voice rising slightly in concern. She grimaced, but lightly patted her chest. I didn't understand at first, but then realized the cuts on her torso were probably hurting from being jostled about. I slipped her off my lap and stood up beside the bed. I then very gently lifted her into my arms and made my way to my own room, keeping a wary eye on the grimacing girl in my arms. I walked into my room and took the first left into my bathroom. Once inside, I placed her on the tiling around the tub, turning her so her back was against the wall and her legs hung off the tiling surrounding the Jacuzzi tub. I then set to work digging through the cupboards underneath the sink where I remembered storing the clean bandages the doctor had given me to change Sakura's bandages with. After finding them I walked back over to her.

I half expected her to grab the bandages and set to work, but after a moment of staring at here I realized she was probably in too much pain. I kneeled down and glanced up at her, waiting for a quick nod from her before beginning. I lifted up her shirt until right before her breasts where Sakura took it in her hands and held it. I almost fell back at the sight that greeted me. A huge bandage covered her stomach, red stains covering a majority of the bandage, leaving only small spots of white and making me get this weird burning feeling in my eyes.

I reached out and slowly unwrapped the bandage, carefully watching Sakura's expression to make sure I didn't hurt her. When the bandage was finally removed, I did fall back to the cold floor. Both deep and long gashes covered the skin on her stomach, blood spread across the surface of it. I got to my feet and took a washcloth from beside the sink and put it under warm water before returning to Sakura. I gently pressed the cloth to her stomach, barely seeing the wince before she returned to keeping a straight face. I then set to washing off the blood, making sure to rinse the washcloth out several times during the process.

Finally I was done, but the cuts still looked extremely gruesome. One cut in particular bothered me. It seemed to start at her left hip and came across her body upwards, continuing up between her breasts. It was definitely one of the deepest, and something about the position of it bothered me. I then began wrapping the bandage around her, slowly and carefully doing it, making sure I covered each cut.

When the task was completed I looked up at her. "Where else are there cuts? I'm going to need to re-wrap those too." She looked hesitant for a moment before she pulled the shirt off completely, leaving her with her chest wrappings. The cut I had been thinking of earlier continued up between her breasts and to three or four inches below the base of her neck. I nodded and pulled the bandage off it, making sure to keep her chest binding intact. After I had re-done the bandage on that, she pulled down her, or rather my, boxers slightly and turned herself around with what looked like a lot of effort. Though the chest bindings and bandages I had put on for her stomach covered most of them, I noticed there were gashes on her back just like the front and one in particular had the tail ends of it sticking out. The top end curved up to her right shoulder blade and the one at the bottom stopped just before her bottom. I added bandages to those before she turned herself back around, fixing my boxers and pulling back on my shirt.

"Thank you." She managed, looking completely worn. I nodded, watching her fight her fatigue for a moment before her eyes finally slid closed, hiding her beautiful eyes from me. _What the fuck was that? Beautiful eyes? I mean…..I guess her eyes do look good, but I shouldn't be noticing that! **I really don't see a problem with it….**_ Inner me protested, rolling his eyes.

Eventually I shook my mental argument out of my mind and focused on the fragile looking girl before me. While before she had been under hospital sheets, she was now in full view and I took this time to study her. A bruise masked her left eyes, another one on her right cheek, and there were more covering the rest of her body, but those two stuck out the most to me. Against the pale flesh on her face, the bruises looked foreign, and like they didn't belong, which they didn't. Her long, pink hair framed her face, innocence glowing off her, only making the bruises look more wrong. Another set of injuries of hers were those cuts. Someone had to have put quite a lot of time and effort into doing them with many of them and how deep they were. _Why would someone want to torture her? And more importantly, she never told me the extent of what she's having nightmares about. The last thing she mentioned was being pinned against a tree…_flashes of possibilities of the events that followed shot through my mind and I unconsciously let out a low growl. _Who had attacked her? And did they…..do what I think they did?_

The gentle sound of heavy breathing stirred me from my once again wandering thoughts. She was leaning her head and side against the wall, her arms hanging limply at her sides as her mouth parted slightly, letting out a soft whoosh of air. I let a grin creep across my lips, not bothering to try and mask it. She was asleep, so she wouldn't be able to notice my out of character expression. As she leaned against the wall, the angle she had her head at caused her hair to cascade down over her face. I quietly snorted at how ridiculous she looked, dressed in my way-too-big-for-her clothes, her hair covering the forehead she had grown into, and sleeping on the edge of a bathtub.

I watched as she squinted her eyes and began to murmur things. I knew I should probably wake her since by the way she was acting it was probably a nightmare, but if I listened he might be able to figure out what she was dreaming about with her talking. I leaned in closer, trying to hear better.

"Sto….p….no….go….leave…..stop it…..no! No!" Tears began to glide down her pale cheeks, slipping from her emerald eyes. _How the hell does she manage to still look beautiful when she cries?_ I continued to listen and almost stopped breathing when she spoke next. "Stop…don't touch m…e….I don't wan…I don't want that…..St..op….You… you gonna…you're going to hurt me!" She began to writhe back and forth, crying out and allowing the clear drops to glide over her tender cheeks. I decided that was enough and reached out, taking her shoulders in my hands and shaking her gently enough not to hurt her, but hard enough to wake her within three shakes. She began shivering and slowly lifted her eyelids, revealing beautiful gems that continued to emit the diamonds that flowed down, dropped off her chin, and splashed onto the tile floor.

"You okay?" I couldn't help it, the words just slipped and I sat there, nervously waiting for her response.

"You've got pretty eyes." That was when I realized we'd just been staring into each other's eyes, not taking notice of anything but each other.

I quickly averted my gaze and mumbled, "You didn't answer the question."

"I'm fine, but I'd like to go out." I looked back at her as she spoke, the confusion obviously covering my face because she quickly explained. "I need something to do; I'm used to twelve hour shifts at the hospital and training squished in around that. I'm not good at doing nothing." **_So that's where she gets all those muscles from…. _**Inner me grinned as I glared at him, but I eventually settled on ignoring him.

I let an 'Hn' slip from my lips before once again lifting her into my arms and carrying her downstairs to her wheelchair which was beside the front door.

"I can't really go out looking like this." She pointed out, gesturing to her clothes.

"I know, look." I pointed through the glass beside the door which had a brown package visible. I went out and brought it back, setting the box the labeled for Sakura. "I'm guessing your stuff finally got here." She nodded her head and he pushed the box in front of her. It was too large to stay on her lap, so she left it on the floor in front of her, using her nails to tear off the tape. The box contained around five outfits along with a note from Ino that read, _'This lack of clothing will give you an excuse to buy something good looking. Love, Ino.' _Sakura shook her head and laughed at Ino's crazy ideas. Next she found all her bathroom supplies, followed by another note from Ino who had obviously done the packing. _'Got you some new perfume. Maybe while you're with Sasuke you can do some man shopping as well as clothing shopping!'_

Finally, inside the box were her extra weapons set, a smaller box with herb and a half finished antidote she had been working on, a get well card from all her friends, a pair of strappy red stilettos that she looked at with a questioning gaze, and finally a silky red dress that reached the knees and was a halter, exposing the upper back with a ribbon wrapped around it just under where her chest would be. _'You never would let me dress up pretty, but since you're in injured you can't kill me. Once you can walk you should go do something fun!' _I read the notes from Ino over Sakura's shoulder and couldn't keep the grin off my lips when she mentioned Sakura looking for a boyfriend, me being mentioned near that idea as what I hoped was a hint. The smirk only grew at the sight of the heels and dress Ino had gotten the poor, blushing Sakura.

"Instead of a walk I would like it if you could take me shopping. It seems Ino seems to have underestimated how long my stay here will be." She put everything back in the box except for one set of clothes, a white lasagna tank top that's neckline was rather low with a black vest over and a pair of black jeans short shorts that had one or two rips on them. **_If this is the least revealing thing Ino sent, which if Sakura picked this than it has to be, we're in for a good show._** For once, I agreed with myself. I moved Sakura into the downstairs half bathroom and waited patiently while she changed.

When he heard movement her turned his head to see her wheeling herself out of the bathroom, I froze at the sight of her. Her luscious pink hair was pulled up into a loose bun with her bangs hanging down around her face, its long length making the bun even bigger and messier, which in my opinion looked great. The tank top and vest gripped her curves unlike my extremely large clothing and showed she had become even more of a woman-by a glance at her chest-since I'd last seen her. The jean shorts also hugged her body, not overly tightly, but showing off how thin but muscular she was. Her casts rested on the pedals at the bottom of the wheelchair and a look of determination was on her face as she struggled to roll herself forwards. I managed to snap out of my daze and was at her side in a moment, my arms wrapped around her from behind with my hands holding hers to stop her from spinning the chair's wheels. "The doctor told you not to strain yourself."

Sakura POV

When I felt Sasuke's arms wrapped around me and his hands holding mine, I was way past shocked. When he calmly said, "The doctor told you not to strain yourself," I relaxed slightly and nodded, my head rubbing against his chest slightly which was against my back and head since he was standing and I was sitting. After a moment he released me and grabbed the handles on the back of my wheelchair and pushed me outside, locking the door after him as we headed towards the shopping district.

We arrived quickly and I pointed to a certain shop that caught my attention. Though the clothing was shorter than I was used to, but that was what I needed since it was summer and days could get pretty hot. The first thing I picked off the rack was inspired by what Ino had said to me. It was a mid-thigh black halter dress that would make my hair stand out, not that it didn't already, and my eyes look brighter. After I tucked that under my arm I looked at the TWLOHA rack, picking out a zip up hoodie with TWLOHA on the side of the hood and love written on the front, a pull over hoodie with TWLOHA in colorful writing across the chest, and the original black with white lettering t-shirt in a v-neck style that simply said TWLOHA with a dotted line that wove through the letters and a star on each end of the line.

Next I picked out a grey tank top with several different colored paints splattered across the front, several more pairs of faded and ripped jeans in skinny and boyfriend style, a pair of purple and yellow pj shorts, a yellow tweedy bird pj tank top. I also picked a yellow skirt with a thick waist and a layered hem, a thin black sweater that's sleeves reached my elbows, a matching pair of black flats with bows on the toe part, a set of neon socks, a couple pairs of underwear since Ino had even failed to send me the proper amount of that, and several other outfits that consisted of jean shorts, tank tops, t-shirts, and leggings to go under the various skirts I picked. As Sasuke pushed me up to the cash register I realized I didn't have any money, but before I could emabarresdly admit I couldn't pay for my items a credit card was handed to the cashier.

"Sasuke?" _Why is he paying for my clothes?_ I couldn't figure it out. He didn't owe me anything, if anything I owed him, and I hadn't done anything special for him, so I didn't get why he was doing that for me.

"I'm going to pay. End of story." He spoke sternly, leaving no room for argument. After a moment I nodded and let a smile play across my lips.

"Thank you." I made sure he saw how happy my face was by poking his arm, causing him to glance over at me, before settling back into my wheelchair.

Afterwards he collected all the bags, hanging them on the back of my wheelchair, before we headed out. I wasn't sure where we were going since I had never walked through the Uchiha compound to het to places. As if he was reading my mind he stated, "I thought you might like something to eat for lunch." I nodded, happy that he had considered my wants. _Wait….what do I mean by that? Since when do I get this bizarre tingly feeling in my chest when someone does something for me?_

I didn't have time to answer my inner questions since we arrived in front of Ichiraku, which reminded me of Naruto. My smile instantly widened when I thought of a bed-ridden Naruto arguing with Granny Tsunade about my current situation. I let out a laugh and Sasuke looked down at me with a confused look.

"Naruto," was all I said and he seemed to understand. A smirk spread across his lips.

"What a shame the dobe couldn't join us today." He spoke sarcastically, but I swear I heard truth in his statement. He pushed me up to the stools and paused for a moment, as if thinking. He then pushed my wheelchair to the end of the counter and stopped it there. He then settled into the closest stool, reached over, and pulled me into his lap.  
>"S-Sasuke?" <em>Great, now I sound like Hinata used to. And why the hell am I blushing? It's Sasuke! I'm probably just embarrassed because I'm helpless...yeah! <em>Sasuke noticed the pink tint to her cheeks, but pretended not to.

"Since the stools have no back support and you are still critically injured, it is dangerous for you to sit on one without assistance." _He's doing it again. Making what I think of as romantic into a completely logical choice._

I placed my hands on the counter, studying my long nails which clicked against the counted as I tapped my fingers against it. I nervously began to shift on his lap and was stopped when two muscular arms wrapped around my waist, gently holding me in place. "Relax." I immediately listened, stilling. The man running the shop took once glance at us and set to work on our orders, recognizing us from the countless times we'd been there.

When the food finally came, it was an issue. With me in front of him, it was difficult for Sasuke to eat, so he turned me to the side. I preferred our previous position where he couldn't see the continuous pink tint on my cheeks. We ate in silence, busied with the ramen.  
>After we finished Sasuke slipped an arm under my knees and back before lifting me up again, making me press into his chest in fear of being clumsy enough to fall out of his arms if I didn't.<p>

He had been turning towards my wheelchair to put me in it, when he suddenly stopped. "Do you really think I'd drop you?" He asked, as if reading my thoughts.

"No." I answered quietly, glancing down at the ground. He nodded and then continued in his previous action, placing me in the chair.

The silence remained as he pushed me away from the stand, into the busy street instead of back towards the Uchiha compound. I felt sort of claustrophobic with all these people around me, towering above me since I was sitting. I was off in day-dream land, thinking, when suddenly I felt Sasuke move from behind me to my side, his face beside mine and facing in front of me, his hand outstretched. As I blinked I noticed a man in front of me with several boxes in his arms. Sasuke's outstretched arm was pressed against the front box and a growl escaped his lips. "Watch it, you could have hurt her." I blinked like when I had come out of la la land, this time in confusion. _Since when do you care?_

The man glanced around the boxes, but instead of the apologetic look I expected I saw a broad grin and the face that haunted me at night. The face that I hadn't been able to place now stood before me, bringing a flood of torturous memories to the surface. I let out a shriek, causing the bustling crowd to stop and look at me. Most of them knew me, and when I shrank back in the wheelchair, screeching as tears slipped down my cheeks, they realized something was wrong. A circle formed around us, several feet between the closest person and I. The same man still stood before me, Sasuke's arm still pressed against the boxes, but his face now worried and looking at mine.

"Hello my lovely cherry blossom, it hasn't been too long, has it?" His voice rang in my ears and I pressed my hands over them, trying to rid them of the horrible sound. Before me stood the one and only, Itachi Uchiha. His grin seemed to get bigger at my reaction and in an instant the boxes were thrown to the side, in his hands a katana with a glinting blade. Sasuke reacted immediately upon seeing the blade in his peripheral vision. When he finally saw who I was so shaken by, his expression was a shocked one.

"I killed you." It was more of a question than a statement, but he made it sound like he was completely confident in his words.

"No foolish brother, you killed someone, someone who was disguised as me. Akatsuki has created some very interesting techniques, one of which I helped create. It directly works on the sharingan, using the sharingan to create the illusion that something is what it is not. In your case, it was used to disguise someone's identity." Itachi looked smug as he watched me struggle under his watch, looking terrified.

Sasuke POV  
>I stood face to face with Itachi, but somehow the fact that I had failed my revenge didn't take over my mind. It was pushed aside by the response Sakura had had to seeing him. The way she had started crying and shaking, covering her ears when she spoke. It infuriated as well as terrified me. <em>What did he do to her?<em>

"Sakura dear," Itachi addressed her with that same smug grin, "how did your visit to the hospital. I hope it didn't make you think badly of me for putting you there." I snapped. I flew forward, lashing out at Itachi with reckless, fury filled swings of my own katana. Bystanders got the message to flee as soon as Itachi had pulled out his katana and now the streets were completely empty except for Sakura, Itachi, and I. He blocked my attacks and made several of his own, me barely dodging them. The continuous clashing of blades and sound of fighting filled the street for several minutes, Itachi and I exchanging blows. He managed to land one on my stomach, leaving a gash, but I had also managed to get him with a deep gash on the shoulder which left his swings weaker.

He continued to smile as we battled; only adding to my already apparent rage. I could still hear Sakura whimpering and shaking behind me, keeping the wound on my stomach numb and my arms swinging the katana. As long as she was here and in danger, I didn't matter. **_So you starting to acknowledge what you feel for her now? You're putting your damn life on the line just to keep Itachi away from her. _**_Shut up! Can't you see I'm busy? **I'm gonna help. Itachi is acting oddly slow. When I say, swing. I'll be notifying you of a moment where he is slowly setting up for another attack. **_Sasuke listened to his inner self and continued to battle until **_Now!_**rang through his head. He swung his katana with all the strength he could bring forth on a momentary whim and watched as Itachi was thrown backwards when their swords slammed together. Sasuke was confused, letting down his guard for a moment, which was all Itachi needed. Even after being thrown back at least forty meters, Itachi was beside Sakura in a moment. Itachi pressed his katana to the throat of the pink haired kunoichi and smirked when she stopped whimpering and her eyes widened.

Itachi brought his face towards Sakura's and pressed his cheek against hers. He then let his tongue snake out of his mouth and turned his head, dragging his tongue over her cheek. She began to shake again and silent tears fell from her eyes, a faraway look coming to her eyes. I wanted nothing more than to race forward and cut off Itachi's tongue before wrapping my arms around Sakura, but he still had a katana to her pale throat. I felt another rush of rage at Itachi's next words.

"Does this bring back memories Sakura?" Itachi continued to drag his tongue across her cheeks before pulling it towards her lips. When he was only a centimeter away from her petal-like lips, he smashed her's against his, bringing his non-katana-holding-hand up to her chest. She desperately tried to get away, but was trapped by her wheelchair. That was it, I had enough. I moved forward quickly and lashed out with my sword at Itachi, causing his to move out of the way and thankfully away from Sakura.

Though it seemed impossible, his grin was wider than before and he murmured, "Sakura, honey, does this remind of you of the forest? Too bad we can't taint Sasuke's eyes with the sight of what followed." With that Itachi disappeared, leaving Sakura sobbing and shaking and me furious beyond reason.

I allowed myself a moment to relax before I moved over to Sakura and swiftly lifted her into my arms. Other than a swollen lip from Itachi kissing her, she remained unscathed, though he guessed Itachi grabbing her chest had probably irritated the cuts there. I then took off, leaving behind her wheelchair as I leapt from roof to roof, ignoring that it may annoy some people. I reached the Hokage's office quickly and rushed past the guards, bursting through the doors with the still hysterical Sakura in my arms.

"Tsunade!" I shouted, causing her to look up. That was when Sakura stopped and suddenly seemed to freeze in my arms. When I looked down she looked extremely pale, almost grey, and her eyes were dilated. They also had a faraway look still and she was staring at me.

Tsunade was instantly by my side, giving me instructions. "Put her down on the couch, she's going into shock. Put her on her side in case she throws up. She is going to lose mind and body function, so if she seems limp don't worry. She's may or may not become unconscious, but I wasn't you to keep talking to her if she stays awake. I'll be able to tell you if she is still conscious." I hurried to do everything I had been ordered to. When I had settled the deathly pale girl on the couch, Tsunade knelt before her and then concluded, "She's conscious. While I get Shizune, you need to talk to her. I don't care what about, just let your voice keep her awake." I was barely aware of her leaving. I moved some of Sakura's pink locks from her eyes and then just started rambling.

"I'm so sorry my brother did that to you. I hated him before, but this is too much. First he takes away my family and then he targets those I care most for. I swear he will never get away with this. I don't want to understand the last thing he said. Was that what you were talking about when you were pinned against that tree in your dream? God, I don't think I want to know." I took a deep, shaky breath and continued. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I know I should have stayed closed to you and kept myself between you and him, but with all my anger I got stupid and reckless." I buried my head in my hands as I knelt before her. "God, I'm so sorry." Then Tsunade was once again by Sakura with Shizune now, gently pushing me aside.

"Sasuke, for patient confidentiality I need to ask you to wait outside Tsunade's office." I was hesitant, but after another glance at Sakura I left her in the hands of Shizune and Tsunade.


	4. Opening Emeralds

**A/N: I know this chapter is short, but I had no inspiration and I really don't like how this turned out. Please give me feedback so I can edit it to the reader's preference since I'm dying to change something in hopes of me liking the way this chapter turned out better. **

Sakura POV

I blinked my eyes and was overcome with this odd sense of….numbness? _What happened? _And then I remembered, but I wished I hadn't. Itachi, Sasuke, the fight, Itachi touching me, Sasuke attacking him, and then I went into shock. I then remembered Sasuke taking me to Tsunade's office, and then she left for some reason I couldn't hear. The next part shocked me most, I remembered Sasuke profusely apologizing for not protecting me. With all these memories flooding back I brought my hands up to clutch my head. That was when the shock finally wore off and the pain in my chest was apparent. I clenched my teeth and then froze at the voice that spoke next.

"Sakura? Are you feeling okay?" He sounded….worried? _Is this really Sasuke?_

"Chest." I growled out between clenched teeth. He nodded and jumped up to sit beside me on the couch as he frantically sat me up and removed my tank top. When I looked down and noticed that my bandages weren't bloody nor disheveled I was confused, but the immense pain in my chest didn't give me long to think. _What the...my chest...oh god... _I leaned forward as blood rushed up my throat and then was spat out by me. I began coughing furiously, the art of breathing seeming to escape me.

"Tsunade!" Sasuke screamed, using one hand to hold back my hair and the other to rub soothing circles on my back. The doors burst open to reveal my sensei and she charged to my side, barely sparing Sasuke a glance.

"I leave for two minutes to get a safe transport for Sakura to the hospital for testing and this happens! What exactly happened?"

Sasuke began spewing out what had happened, me still leaning over and hacking up blood. "She woke up and I guess the shock wore off because she clutched her chest and told me it hurt. I took off her shirt to see if her cuts had been irritated when Itachi touched her chest, but her bandages were clean. Then she started coughing and spitting up blood. Do you think it's her rib and lung? Itachi could have used chakra to put more pressure on her chest without me knowing."

Tsunade nodded, turning around and barking at Shizune, "We don't have time for the transport to arrive. We're going to risk jostling her and Sasuke will carry her to the hospital. Go ahead of us and get a team ready for surgery." Sasuke moved quickly, leaning in front of me and with a great effort I pushed myself off the couch and slid onto his back, not being able to enjoy the moment of closeness because of the dizzying pain.

He climbed out the Hokage tower window with Tsunade in tow, jumping from roof to roof with insane speed. Growing somewhat delirious with the wonder of if I was going live I began to whisper in Sasuke's ear which was beside my mouth, "If I don't make it, I want you tell Naruto he was my best friend, but he needs to get his ass in gear and ask Hinata out." I paused, swallowing down blood painfully. "Tell Ino I hope everything between her and Shikamaru continue to work well. I also want you to tell everyone I know that I'll miss them, but I don't want any of them crying at my funeral." I paused before saying the next words. "And lastly, I want to hear you truthfully tell me I'm not weak." Then everything went dark.

Sasuke POV

Sakura was whispering to me all her death wishes, something that made me extremely concerned, when suddenly she said something that caught my attention. "And lastly, I want to hear you truthfully tell me I'm not weak." Then she went limp in my arms, her body slumping against my back.

"Sakura! Stay awake! Sakura!" I screamed, somehow picking up my pace from the already inhuman speed I was moving at. We quickly arrived at the hospital and Tsunade took Sakura from my arms, sprinting off to an operating room. I just stood there, staring down the hallway Tsunade had taken Sakura. Her last wish to me shook me, made me want to scream at her, and made me want to think about how I had really treated her.

In a complete zombie-like state I walked out of the Hospital, heading towards Naruto's apartment subconsciously. Once I had arrived at his door I knocked, waiting patiently for him to answer. The door opened to reveal Naruto on crutches for his broken leg and several bandages placed around his body with his blonde hair spiked up in every direction imaginable. I pushed past him into his place, dropping down on the nearest couch and running my hands through my hair as I sucked in a deep breath.

"So Teme, finally realized my awesomeness and come to ask me how I do it?" Naruto asked as he closed the door and hobbled over to the couch across from me.

"Not now, Dobe." He recognized the serious tone in my voice, instantly stiffening and looking at me with a wary expression. Before he could begin questioning me I asked him one, "Naruto, what happened to Sakura after I left?"

He seemed shocked for a moment, bowing his head. When his head rose again a minute later tears were filling his eyes as he spoke. "She was fucking dead for a while Teme. She became convinced you hated her and she was an annoying, weak burden to not only you but everyone. For a while everyone was worried that she was suicidal, but everything seemed to get better when Tsunade took her in as her apprentice. Tsunade trained Sakura to be the strongest Konoichi Konoha has seen in a long time, these days surpassing Tsunade herself. A couple months later, when everyone had gotten over the idea of her being a danger to herself since she had begun hanging out with friends again and became so strong, she tried to kill herself."

I couldn't stifle the gasp that escaped my mouth and couldn't prevent my eyes from widening. _What did I do? _"She and I were supposed to spar that day, but when she was an hour late I got worried. I showed up her apartment and found everything boxed and put in piles for different people. Ino was to get all her beauty stuff, TenTen her weapons, I her headband among other things. When I saw that I got freaked out and ran through her place and found her in the tub, gashes all over her right side and the bottom of the tub filled with a puddle of her blood. I rushed her to Tsunade who was able to save her, but her suicide note was the scariest thing ever. Seeing Sakura like that and then reading the note _why _she wanted to do that to herself was too real. She was in the hospital for months after that under careful watch."

Naruto buried his face in his hands, shaking it. "When I went to see her, right after the incident, I asked her why. She looked at me and told me, 'I'm useless, just extra baggage, and no one needs the deadweight.' She had completely convinced herself that she was worth nothing to anyone, someone who would die and the world would keep going without caring." He then picked his head up and turned his gaze to me. "She was only released from the hospital a couple days before you came home. I could tell it bugged you she was so distant, but it wasn't just you that got that. Only in the past year and a half has she gotten better."

I didn't notice at first, but there were salty tears sliding down my tears as I listened, hearing that I had given Sakura such strong self-hatred and left her to drown in it. "What did I do Naruto?" I asked my voice cracking as I spoke. I had destroyed the one girl who had ever meant anything to me. If it hadn't been for Naruto she wouldn't even be alive anymore.

"I don't know Sasuke, but I'm really glad you were assigned to take care of her. Maybe, if you two can work at it, you can both get some closure." I didn't like hearing Naruto so serious, it just made the situation more real. I stood up abruptly, whispering a 'Thanks' to Naruto.

Just as I was about to leave I turned to Naruto and cleared my throat. "I figured out it was Itachi that Sakura fought. He attacked her in the street and she's in surgery. If you want to come I'm heading to the hospital. Before you freak out on me the reason I'm here and not there is because of one of her dying requests to me. She wanted me to truthfully tell her she wasn't weak and that made me want to ask someone who was there after I left about what happened to her." With that I walked out the door, leaving a dumbfounded Naruto in my wake. Before heading back to the hospital, though, I stopped and collected Sakura's bags and wheelchair, depositing them at our house. _Our house? Wait, since when is it our house?_ **Since you wanted this to be more than a temporary stay.**

For once, I couldn't disagree with myself.

* * *

><p>Naruto POV<p>

I was wringing my hands as I sat in the hospital chair with my crutches on my one side and Sasuke on my other. It had been two hours since he had come to my house and both of us were close to our breaking points. _Is this how Sasuke felt last time waiting to see us? But he was here twenty-seven hours, not two. _When those double doors swung open we were on our feet, I my foot more accurately, awaiting the news.

"Miss Haruno is out of surgery and resting currently. The rib was out of place again and the stitches she had were torn, but we were able to repair them both. Right now we are very concerned. Between this incident and her earlier incident she has been losing a lot of blood. We gave her a transfusion, but she should be extremely captious until her red blood cell and white blood cell counts are back up." I nodded, grabbing my crutches as the doctor motioned for us to follow.

I hobbled behind Sasuke whose hands were clenched into fists and his arms were tense. I felt bad for him, having to realize he threw our ever cheerful Sakura into depression and drove her to attempt suicide. That had to be a huge burden on his shoulders. As we walked along to her room the tension in his shoulders only grew making me concerned for my raven haired friends. Once we reached the room, for the second time within two weeks, I saw Sakura injured and vulnerable.

I didn't like to see her like that since she had always felt so strongly against being considered weak or helpless after Sasuke's departure. As I checked up on said person with a glance I saw that his tears had returned as he briskly made his was over to Sakura's side, taking her hand in his. He then pressed the back of her hand against his cheek, the tears silently continuing in a stream down his cheeks as he buried his head in the sheets beside Sakura.

"I never knew what I said had that much of an effect on you. I was careless with my words, choosing to put you down and hide what I felt behind being a complete ass." He choked out, how pitiful and upset he sounded making me want to tear up too.

I took my place on Sakura's other side, grasping her available hand in mine for the reassurance that her skin was warm and her pulse remained as the only current sign of her life accompanied with the beeping of the heart rate monitor behind me. The doctor stayed in the doorway for several moments before he walked into the room and stopped at the end of Sakura's bed. "She should be waking up soon since the sedative was only meant for around three hours, mainly meant for just the sugary because we wanted to see how she felt afterwards as soon as possible." Then, after receiving only silence from the male ninjas, he exited the room.

After the silence dragged on for at least half an hour Sasuke opened his mouth and spoke. "Naruto, can I see the scars?"

I was confused at first, not understanding what Sasuke meant, but when I comprehended what Sasuke was asking I felt reluctant. "I guess since they were cause by you then you have the right to see how much damage you did." Pulling back Sakura's blankets I opened the ties on the left side of Sakura's hospital gown to reveal row after row of elevated white scars. There had to be dozens.

Though I had seen them before, I still grimaced at the sight. Any reminder at Sakura's attempt to enter permanent nothingness made me upset. Sasuke immediately paled, looking like he was going to be sick for quite a while, before his looks returned to normal other than being extra pale. "She was pretty fucked up after you left." I told him, even though I knew he had already figured that out.

"And the suicide note?" I knew he wanted to understand the full extent of what he had done, but I was getting extremely upset over talking about what Sakura had tried to do.

"Tsunade has that. If you want I can stay with her while you go get it." With another deep breath I pushed myself to continue. "I really think you should read it." He nodded, standing up and walking out of the room.

I just hoped that note wouldn't push him to make a fatal decision.

* * *

><p>Sasuke POV<p>

I made my way over to the nurses' station, throwing the door open of the room and glancing around to find Tsunade seated at the nearest table alone with her head ducked down in her hands.

"Tsunade. I wish to see Sakura's suicide note." She jerked her head up at my statement, her expression a mixture of shock and disgust.

"What makes you think you have the right to see that?" The disgust took over her face and she stood up before walking over to me so we were face to face.

"I caused her to resort to suicide." That made Tsunade stumble back and put a hand on the table to support herself, a confused expression on her face which quickly eased into one of understanding.

"You talked to someone?"

"Naruto." She nodded, seeming to be deciding whether or not to give it to me.

"I did this to her, and I can't fix it unless I know exactly what actions affected her in what way." That was the extra push Tsunade needed and she headed out of the room, waving for me to follow her. She led me out of the hospital and over to the Hokage Tower, refusing to look back at me the whole time.

Once there she took me up to her office and I patiently waited in front of her desk as she pulled a set of keys from her shirt and inserted one into a drawer of her desk. She then performed several hand signs I didn't recognize and the drawer slid open. She searched through the drawer for several moments before she pulled out a paper that was folded three times and disturbingly had: _Love, Sakura, _written on the top of it. As she handed it to me I avoided the bloody part, tucking the letter in my pants pocket and nodding to Tsunade. "I will return it when I've finished with it."

She seemed to understand what I meant by that. I wouldn't be able to read it once and be done. It would take several reads and thinking periods for me to be able to accept the content of the letter. I then, using the door unlike my last exit, used the door to leave her office and descended down the stairs and out of the building. Making my way back to the hospital, I was able to detect that Sakura was awake as soon as I walked out of the elevator doors by the way her chakra acted.

I subconsciously picked up my pace and headed towards her room, smiling as I heard her and Naruto's voices shouting at one another. It wasn't often, that I'd seen anyways, that those two went at each other in an argument that Sakura saw a point in thoroughly proving him wrong in instead of just bashing him over the head to make herself right. As I closed in on her room I caught snatches of their argument and was extremely confused and amused. "Chicken forever you health obsessed woman! Believe it!" "Vegetable! Don't...kick your...own...sorry ass!" Words were obviously missing between the ones Sakura said that I heard, but the ones I had heard made an interesting sentence.

After entering the room to see Naruto staring at Sakura with his mouth open and finger pointing at her as he sputtered, I decided to intervene. "What's going on?" I asked, looking between the two.

Sakura turned her head to look at me with a triumphant expression. "I was trying to explain to Naruto that vegetable ramen is better and better for you than chicken ramen. He failed to listen to persuasion, so I simply told him, '**Don't** make me come over there and **kick your** ramen-obsessed ass! It's sad you don't know the best kind of your **own** favorite food! If you don't admit vegetable is the best ramen, I'll tell Hinata you were creepily daydreaming about her and she'll be too embarrassed to ever again talk to your **sorry ass**!'. He then took on the pose he holds currently."

I let out an amused snort at her retelling of the story, her earlier words making sense. I then walked up to the still sputtering boy, putting a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "You know you can never win an argument against her." The Dobe finally snapped his mouth shut and settled with pouting, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sakura laughed, stopping in the middle of a laugh when her body was wracked with a coughing fit. I moved to her side quickly, taking her hand in mine and studying her. Slowly, over the course of a couple minutes, the coughs faded and she seemed the same as before. "I'm alright." She whispered hoarsely.

"You shouldn't talk so much. Laughter is not the best medicine in this case." She nodded slowly, the exhaustion on her face suddenly extremely obvious to me. Her hands were shaking slightly, there were purple bags under her eyes, and her eyelids kept sagging closed before she snapped them open. I chuckled, amused by her vain attempts to stay awake.

"What?" She mumbled, her eyelids not snapping back that time.

"You should get some sleep. You've been under a lot of stress." She shook her head, grumbling something about being fine and how I should shut up, but I couldn't understand her words as she slipped into unconsciousness. A smirk spread across my face as I studied her. Her hair was splayed across her pillow, the pink of her hair contrasting the white pillow, and her face was turned to the left so her pale skin was visible. Sasuke's grin broadened when he saw the Konoichi in rare state, at peace. He knew it wouldn't last, especially if she had a nightmare, but he decided to cling to the moment and enjoy it as much as possible.

"I'm glad your home Sasuke." Naruto whispered, keeping his gaze fixed on Sakura. Sasuke look up at the blond with a confused expression.

"Naruto, I've been back for a while."

"Yeah, but this feels like the first time you're acting like you're _home_."


	5. Working on Walking

**A/N: I decided to ease the insanely tense and intense atmosphere of this story with a little humor. Thank crazymel2008 for asking me to update when I though everyone had forgotten about this story. Enjoy!**

_There was fire everywhere, the blazing orange erupting from every part of the forest. Sakura whipped her arms up in front of her face to protect herself as a rush of fire came particularly close. She looked around from the branch she stood on, searching for an escape. A loud crack from the branch standing between her and the rising flames caused the urgency of finding safety stronger. As the branch gave a thundering cry Sakura was forced to fling herself from the branch into the reaching flames, hoping her hands would grab something before she fell straight to her death._

_She let out a scream as she fell, the heat enveloping her, before two arms wrapped around her waist. She jerked her head around to look behind her and found sharingan staring back at her. She felt relief for only a second before it turned to panic upon realizing it was not Sasuke but Itachi holding her. She struggled and suddenly the whole scenery changed. She was no longer in a blaze but pressed back against a tree. 'Sweet Sakura, there is nowhere you can go I will not find you.'_

Sakura jerked awake with a harsh scream, clutching the blankets close to her chest. She heard the comforting pounding of footsteps followed by her bedroom door whipping open to reveal Sasuke filling the doorway. Such had been a ritual for the past week yet it was now in Sasuke's house instead of at the hospital, her departure from the hospital only a few hours earlier. They didn't have much room at the hospital and she didn't have a reason to need to stay any longer there after being healed and watched over by Tsunade and also with a skilled ninja watching her every hour of the day. In her stay Tsunade had also finished mending the bones in Sakura's legs, but the nerve damage in them was still there and dangerous so Sakura was to remain in her wheelchair until she could start physical therapy.

Sasuke stared at her from the doorway like every night, studying her body up and down to make sure it had _just _been a nightmare. Seeming satisfied, Sakura expected him to turn around and leave like every other night but was surprised when he moved into the room and closed the door behind him. "Sasuke?" she called, worried there was something off that was alerting him to look around for threats. She began looking around in a frenzy, searching for what he saw.

"Sakura, calm down." Sakura quickly stilled, easily finding reassurance in what he said. He swiftly moved across the room to rest beside her bed. He peeled back the covers, a cool surge of air rushing over the exposed skin of her legs since she only wore underwear with a loose white t-shirt that had ridden up from her movements. Sasuke crawled in beside her, dropping his head down on the empty pillow to her right and reaching across the bed to wrap a hand around her bare waist. He then pulled her back backward against his chest, letting out a sigh as he did so.

"Sasuke?" Sakura squeaked nervously, trying to understand what the raven-haired boy was doing joining her in bed so late at night.

"I read in one of your medical textbooks on trauma that it is easier for the traumatized to sleep in the company of another since it gives peace of mind to them. Go to sleep." She faintly recalled reading that in one of the many textbooks on trauma Tsunade had given to her at her departure from the hospital upon hearing from Sasuke her nightmares were still occurring every night. She smiled, grateful that Sasuke had made the move to sleep beside her since she knew she would have never had the courage to ask him to sleep with her.

~The~Next~Morning~

"Sakura, how could you! Teme, get your hands of my precious Sakura!" Sakura stirred at the obnoxious screaming, still remaining in the hazy state between awake and asleep. She felt the warmth against her back and around her waist lessen and she gripped the thing holding her waist, murmuring out a protest. It again tried to move and she was forced to be louder.

"Stop it, I'm cold." she moaned. A high pitched screech followed by a chuckle caused her to bolt upright in bed, turning her glare on the source of the screech that had fully awoken her. There, clad in his usual orange outfit, stood Naruto with a horrified expression. "What the hell are you screaming about?" she demanded, frustrated with the obnoxious blond. Sticking out a single finger Naruto pointed to her right where her warmth had been. She looked over and let out a scream herself. There, his head propped up on his elbow as he lay on his side with his body facing her, was a shirtless Sasuke.

After snapping her mouth shut, the previous night returned to her memory and Sakura sighed. Her faced dropped back into one of annoyance as she brought her palm up to rest against her forehead in a poor attempt to prevent her oncoming migraine form all the yelling so early. "Oh yeah, you're here." she mumbled, making Naruto let out another screech.

"He's shirtless in your bed, why Sakura?" Naruto whined, rushing around to her side of the bed and attaching himself to her left arm with a pout on his face.

Sasuke apparently found this a good time to interject, getting enough amusement. "She was having more nightmares, dobe." That seemed to slow Naruto down, as the blond briefly thought over what Sasuke had said.

"So?"

"So, it is proven trauma victims sleep better in the company of another."

"Bullshit."

"Trauma victims sleep better in the company of another person or animal they trust because they feel safer than when they're alone. That is quoted from the damn textbook, I can show it to if you want."

Naruto vehemtly shook his head, fearful of any type of book or learning. "But why are you shirtless?" Naruto demanded, thinking he had finally gotten a good point.

"It was hot last night. Look at Sakura; she didn't wear pants because she was hot." Sasuke seemed to find comedy in Naruto gasping, turning white, then passing out and falling to the luckily carpet floor.

"Come on Sasuke, I don't feel like treating this idiot for a concussion this early!" Sakura whined, stretching her arms up above her head while being careful to not agitate her ribs. The raven-haired man simply shrugged, getting out the bed and going around to her side. Careful not to step on and wake up the blonde, Sasuke gathered Sakura in his arms, fighting down a blush from his arm being under her naked thighs. He carried her to the bathroom and set her on the toilet seat. That was when Sasuke wondered, how the hell was Sakura going to shower? The first night he had brought her home she had showered earlier in the day, the day after that they had gone shopping and then Itachi had attacked. After that the female nurses at the hospital had dealt with everything.

"H-how is this going to work?" he asked, mentally berating himself for stuttering.

Sakura stared at him for several seconds, seeming confused, before a deep blush spread across her cheeks like wildfire. "W-ell, we should probably strip down to our underwear and then you could get in the rub and help me wash what I can't." Sasuke simply nodded, pulling off his pants and socks before turning to Sakura. She lifted her arms straight up in the air and Sasuke grabbed the hem of her shirt, gently lifting her shirt up and maneuvering it around Sakura's still in place wrist cast. Sadly Tsunade hadn't felt her wrist was properly set yet, so the cast had to remain. With the girl he had found peaking his interest in only her skin colored underwear and bra before him, Sasuke let out an awkward cough.

"Alright." he lifted Sakura up in his arms and walked her over to the tub that also had a showerhead before setting her on the bottom of it. Next he reached out and turned on the water, making sure it was warm before he put the stopper in the drain and climbed in the tub behind Sakura. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and his chin rested atop her shoulder as his legs snaked around her hips and legs. Her cheeks burned bright red as Sasuke reached around her to grab the shampoo. He pressed some into his palm before setting the bottle aside and setting to work on Sakura's hair. He dug his fingers into her hair, massaging her scalp causing her to release a low moan.

Next he grabbed a bristled brush and after applying body was to it he began to gently scrub different parts of her body.

"That feels amazing!" Sakura groaned, dropping her head back on his shoulder.

"Hn. Be quieter, if dobe catches us like this he'll kill me." Sakura and he practically naked in a tub together wasn't exactly an innocent image.

He continued to scrub her skin. "Harder!" she whined, loving the massage.

"Relax, if I rush this it will hurt." he reminded her, cautious of the sharp bristles.

"Come on, give it to me!" she whined, trying to snatch the brush away from him. He chuckled and pulled it out of her reach. With the water and soap all over the tub, Sakura easily slipped when she turned around to grab the brush and ended up sprawled out chest to chest with their legs entangled on top of Sasuke.

Naruto POV

I groggily opened my eyes and looked around and found the room empty other than myself. From the bathroom next door I heard a disturbing exclamation.

"That feels amazing!"

"Hn. Be quieter, if dobe catches us like this he'll kill me." My eyes bugged out, my mind automatically jumping to sexual assumptions since Jiraya was after all my sensei.

I heard Sakura let out another moan. "Harder!"

"Relax, if I rush this it will hurt." I jumped to my feet, slowly proceeding towards the bathroom.

"Come on, give it to me!" I rushed to the bathroom at that point, hearing a thump. I found Sakura on top of Sasuke.

"Baa-chan! Sasuke is trying to de-flower Sakura!" I screamed, turning and sprinting from the apartment. I bolted towards the Hokage tower, screaming out about Sasuke being a pervert.

Normal POV

Sakura blinked a few times before bursting out laughing and dropping her head down against Sasuke's chest as her body was racked with laughter. Sasuke joined her laughter with chuckles of his own a couple moments after and soon they were both shaking with laughter. As they calmed down Sasuke looked down at the girl on his chest, examining her from her pink roots to the tips of her toes. He subconsciously reached forward with a hand and brushed some of her hair out of her face to reveal two emerald eyes staring back at him.

"You know shishiou is going to come storming over hear after she hears what Naruto was screaming." she mumbled, attempting to motivate herself towards moving off Sasuke's muscular and warm chest.

"Aa. We should probably move." Sasuke agreed, yet neither made a move to get up. After several minutes of lying together in silence, Sakura propped herself up on her left elbow before using her right hand to draw circles on Sasuke's chest while admiring his very fit shape.

"Did you miss us when you were gone?" she asked, and Sasuke stared at her with a blank expression for several moments.

"I missed being asked out constantly by my number one fan and watching you punch Naruto in the head." Sakura giggled at his reply, still keeping her gaze on his chest. "And apparently you missed me."

Sakura seemed to stiffen at that comment, her pattern tracing on his chest slowing down. "I did. You were a big part of my life and then you were gone." After that silence once again took over the bathroom again. When Sasuke heard someone pounding on the front door he decided to say one last thing to Sakura.

"I may have been a big part of your life, but I wasn't all of it." She seemed to understand the underlying message there that her whole life wasn't worth anything on his departure since she froze, shocked he knew about her suicide attempt. Then Sasuke slipped out from under her and climbed out of the bathtub, dressing quickly before exiting the bathroom. He made his way downstairs, shouting to the front door to knock it off. Sakura remained lying in the bathtub, not sure what to do. She settled for turning up the heat of the water and sinking further into the water until only her face wasn't under it.

Tsunade POV

I heard screams and lazily lifted my aching head from my desk. Naruto burst into my office and I quickly became alert at his words. "Baa-chan! Sasuke is trying to de-flower Sakura!" I leapt up, knocking over the obnoxious boy in my haste, and sprinted to the Uchiha household while pumping chakra into my fist. When I arrived I began pounding on the door. I heard Sasuke yell for me to knock it off and a vein bulged in my forehead at the brat's disrespectful attitude.

The door opened the reveal a fully clothed Uchiha glaring at me. "Will you not smash my house." he growled and I felt the need to punch him.

"Where is Sakura?"

"Sleeping."

"With you?"

"Were you talking to Naruto, the moron who last week thought he saw a rabid chinchilla eating his toes off and snakes sexually harassing Hinata? Do you not recall the chinchilla's being him chewing on his own feet and the snakes being the water Hinata was swimming in but he got confused because of his extreme intoxication?" I paused to think over what the Uchiha had said.

"Yes."

"First mistake." And then the damn brat slammed the door in my face.

~.L~.A~.T~.E~.R~. ~.T~.H~.A~.T~. ~.D~.A~.Y~.

Sakura laughed at Sasuke's attempt to make eggs, the burnt pile of goo on her plate the result. "I've never made eggs before, you just have weird taste!" the dark haired man mumbled as he grumpily attempted to wash the pan in the sink. Sakura smiled at him and moved off her stool silently to help him but her was alerted of her movement when her legs gave out and she hit the floor.

"Damn it." she hissed, her legs aching more than usual from her fall. Sasuke was quickly by her side looking her over for any injuries. When he found none other than the possibility of her legs bruising later he glared at her.

"You're not supposed to be walking yet."

"I know, I know. It's just too damn infuriating that I'm not starting physical therapy until tomorrow. I'm so glad I convinced Shishou to move it forward from next week though, my patience would have been completely gone by then." she grumbled.

"You have patience right now?" Sasuke mused, wondering what her without 'patience' was like.

Sakura scoffed before replying, "Yeah I do, your counter is still in one piece isn't it?"

Sasuke's eye twitched at that comment and he growled, "You will not break any part of the Uchiha compound, got that?"

Sakura shrugged and put her hands up in a defensive position. "No promises."

_Great. _Sasuke thought grumpily. _She just _**_had _**_to have monstrous strength didn't she?_

"Now, help me up so I can show you how eggs are really made." Sasuke rolled his eyes before sliding his hands under her knees and lower back. He lifted her up and then walked over to the counter next to the stove and placed her up on it with her legs dangling off the edge of it. She smiled at him before playfully kicking her feet out. He snatched them up out of the air and brought them to his chest before tickling them causing her to screech girlishly. It was moments like those that he could truly relax and be happy, especially those when she was around. "Stop it!" She giggled and he smirked at her.

"I only torture people who make fun of my eggs!" he replied between chuckles.

Her broad grin for a reply told him that she didn't plan on apologizing for the comment and he resumed tickling her. Things were getting easier and Itachi seemed to fade to the back of his mind, becoming a burden to think about. "Come on, we need to do something productive today other than scarring Naruto and pissing off shishiou! What should we do?" Sasuke stopped to try and answer her question. With her only beginning physical therapy the next day they probably should do some sort of exercise so she wouldn't be completely out of shape.

"Let's go to the training grounds. I'll help you attempt to do some stretches, practice nerve stimulation, and maybe even try walking." Sakura looked excited by the suggestion and gave an immediate smile.

"Really? No joke?"

"Nope. We'll get dressed in more comfortable clothes and go." He gathered her in his arms before heading upstairs to prepare them for the day. Once there he set her down on her bed before pulling out a mesh tank top with a red leather tank top with the Haruno emblem that Ino had given him at the hospital and a pair of black spandex shorts that were also a gift from Sakura's blond best friend. He handed them to Sakura before heading out of the room. She stared at the clothing with a sigh before peeling off her clothing to leave herself in only her underwear.

She then put on the mesh top followed by the Haruno tank top and shorts. They were definitely more fitted for the predicted warm weather and she'd have to thank Ino later. Once dressed she called for Sasuke who re-entered the room wearing a pair of black pants and a black muscle shirt. She paused and smiled at his good looking appearance before being jostled from her thoughts by being lifted up off the bed. Sasuke carried her downstairs before depositing her in her wheelchair where she huffed and crossed her arms.

"I hate this damn thing."

"Get over yourself. You aren't strong enough to go without it yet." She only glared at him when he made that comment as he wheeled her out of the house and locked the door after them. He pushed her all the way to the training ground making sure to take her out to the middle before stopping. He then walked around to the front of her and held out his hands. She lifted her bare feet and placed them in his palms and he shifted her legs closer and further from her chest to stimulate her nerves and flex her muscles. She nearly groaned aloud at how good it felt to move her legs around so much.

When he finished he tried several other nerve stimulation and muscle stretching exercises. Much faster than he'd expected he'd done all the things he'd prepared and she was staring at him expectantly. "Can I try to walk yet?"

He sighed before nodding. "I'll remain a foot in front of you at all times so if you're going to fall, try to go forwards." She grinned before bracing her palms against the wheelchair armrests and pushed off the chair onto her feet. At first they shook and she teetered, but she quickly worked to regain herself and was able to take several stumbling steps forward to help. After that she lightly picked up her feet before setting them back down gently to make sure they didn't give out. Once she had gone around fifteen feet she gained confidence and began walking quickly, her smile like a wildfire as it spread quickly across her face.

Another fifteen feet and she turned her steps into a jog, earning a protest from Sasuke. "Sakura, slow down! You're going to hurt yourself!" She continued to smile and upped her speed to a full sprint before dodging past him and running barefoot through the grassy area. He chased after her, a smirk tugging at his lips, and she simply laughed. When her legs did give out, buckling under the pressure being thrown on them, she fell forward and rolled. "Sakura!" Sasuke had screamed before sprinting to her side to find her lying in the grass laughing wildly. He had to join in and dropped to the ground beside her, placing his clasped hands under his head.

"I beat you."


End file.
